Putting Your Best Menu Forward!

As our KES Clubs are serving their breakfast clubs each morning we want to be sure they are putting their best menu forward to the students in our schools.  We want our menus to be well balanced and nutritious. By serving foods from 3 of the 4 food groups from Canada’s Food Guide we can be sure our menus are balanced. And by serving fruit, milk and a healthy whole grain each day we can ensure they are nutritious.

We do know sometimes serving the healthiest options can be challenging.  We have picky eaters, we have items that we are think are healthy and sometimes are not, and often, we serve the same things because the children love it, and it may not be a healthy option.  Remember that small changes every day can lead to a recipe for success!

Here are some tips for Putting Your Best Menu Forward:

• Serve milk more often than 100 % fruit juice
• Serve Water, if you are able
• Serve  fruit every day, and this can be canned in water or frozen in smoothies 😊
• If you use Cheez Whiz please start replacing it with real cheese.  Purchase hard cheese and cut them into blocks and serve with your toast
• Serve Chocolate milk no more than once a week
• Although everything can be enjoyed in moderation, offering children nutritious items will help them develop healthy eating habits and make healthy choices.

Kristin Hedges is a Registered Dietitian with Kids Eat Smart Foundation NL.